Former No 10 communications director and News of the World editor is sentenced.

Andy Coulson has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for conspiracy to hack phones.

The 46-year-old former Downing Street communications director was found guilty at the Old Bailey last week.

The maximum sentence for his offence is two years, but Coulson received a reduction of several months “for previous good character”.

He will be taken to HM Belmarsh Prison at lunchtime, before being sent to an open prison in the next few days.

Coulson, a former News of the World editor, is one of the four ex-journalists from the now retired tabloid to be sentenced.

The former news editor Greg Miskiw and ex-chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck were jailed for six months. Former private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who was tasked with phonehacking, was given a six-month suspended sentence, and former reporter James Weatherup was given a four-month suspended sentence.

The Prime Minister commented that Coulson's sentencing shows, "no one is above the law".